NI blood donation rule changes for gay and bisexual men delayed

Changes to the rules about blood donation for gay and bisexual men in NI have been delayed due to a lack of staff and training resources.

The changes mean men who have been in a same-sex relationship for more than three months would be able to donate.

They were announced last December and are due to be implemented across the UK from Monday.

But the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS) has had to delay until September.

It said it was because some of the systems are not yet in place.

NIBTS chief executive Karin Jackson said the delay was due to not having access to staff and training resources.

Ms Jackson said the coronavirus pandemic has had a substantial impact on the service, which has been focused on blood collection for the NI population over the last year.

She said a staff training programme was now being rolled out and the changes should be implemented "over summer months for new donors who meet new criteria".

• Same-sex blood donation rules relaxed

• Same-sex blood donation rules further relaxed

'Bringing staff up to speed'

"We have to develop the training materials and we need to have the staff in place to do this and we didn't have the staff in place," she said.

"This is very specialist knowledge that is required and we didn't have access to that source.

"We now have access and we are moving at pace to implement the training to bring our staff up to speed."

She said the "significant change" to donation practices requires some "major changes" to the health questionnaire.

She said the health questionnaire focuses "specifically around sexual practices of potential donors" and "it's important our donor staff ask those in an appropriate manner".

She said NIBTS was following the lead of NHS England and other blood services in the rest of the UK to replicate questionnaires and training material.

"It's important to remember we are the smallest blood services in the UK and as such we are small in terms of resources available to us."

Rule changes

Previously men who had been in a same-sex relationship had to wait for a year after their last sexual activity before donating blood, before this was reduced to three months.

At the time the health minister said his decision was "guided purely by the science".

As with earlier decisions to change the blood donation rules, he said he had been advised by a Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) committee, which advises UK health departments, and was "content" with the decision.

But he said it was "still of paramount importance that all potential donors are honest in their response to the assessment questions and comply with any deferral rules that apply to them".